Scrappy Reyes, Addison Trail earn second place at regional
Addison Trail senior Brian Reyes did everything humanly possible to break free of the hold of York senior Antonio Gutierrez.
In the 145-pound championship at the Class 3A Lane Tech wrestling regional, after eight minutes of action produced no winner, Reyes faced the prospect of the "ultimate tiebreaker," having 30 seconds to escape the clutch of Gutierrez.
"I saw there were 30 seconds up there, and I just knew I had to do whatever was available to me to get free and score that point," Reyes said.
Reyes earned his team's only individual championship by using a burst of energy to decouple himself from Gutierrez with 12 seconds remaining for the dramatic 3-2 overtime victory Saturday on the northwest side of Chicago.
Reyes leads a group of nine Addison Trail wrestlers who advanced to the sectional next Saturday at Conant in Hoffman Estates. The Blazers finished second to state powerhouse Oak Park-River Forest.
The Huskies captured 12 of the 14 weight classes in amassing 293.0 points. Addison Trail was a distant runner-up with 147.50 points, eclipsing York (119 points) and Leyden (117 points). Willowbrook finished fifth in the nine-team event.
What made the Reyes and Gutierrez showdown so riveting was the contrast of styles. At 5-feet-10 Gutierrez enjoyed a 5-inch height advantage over Reyes. Repeatedly, Reyes appeared to have an advantage on a single leg takedown only for Gutierrez to use his length as leverage and nullify Reyes' tactics.
"I have always been on he taller side of the weight classes," Gutierrez said. "I have wrestled Reyes four other times. Every other time I have wrestled him he has thrown me. I knew he was very skilled offensively. I did not want to tie up with him."
With the lower center of gravity, Reyes utilized his strength.
"I have always gone up against guys who are twice my size," Reyes said. "I have trouble riding out people who are longer than me, and I just wanted to stay on my feet. That was to my advantage."
Reyes ran his record to 29-9. Gutierrez is 32-8.
"As long as I am giving it my all, I am not very upset by the outcome," Gutierrez said.
Six Addison Trail wrestlers finished second in their weight class: Guillermo Juarez (106 pounds), John Asturias (113), Raul Gonzalez (126), Jake Matthews (132) and Xavier Sierra (160). The Blazers' Yuanxu Zheng (120 and John Ramos (138) each advanced by placing third.
York qualified six individuals for the sectionals. Jason Lewis (138 pounds) and Chris Eckard (170) each finished second. The Dukes also qualified, in third place, Brian Kunst (152), Kevon Robinson (195) and Josh Mathiasen (285).
Leyden advanced seven individuals. A junior transfer from Oak Park-River Forest, Ronnie Massari finished second at 152 pounds. Senior Ryan Jaffray (220) and senior Fernando Corona (285) each lost narrow decisions against wrestlers from Oak Park-River Forest.
Daniel Uribe (132), Jimmy Lonigro (145), Ben Uribe (160 pounds) and Alejandro Quinonez (170) advanced by finishing third.
Willowbrook advanced five wrestlers. Zachary Seymore (126) and John Peterson (195) had the best individual finishes with runner up places. Gabriel Yu (113), Richard Scheelk III (126) and Elijah Brockie (182) each finished third and also push on to the sectionals.